Large array connectors are generally used to make separable connections between two printed circuit boards. A large array connector can include hundreds of wafers that each have multiple leads that are soldered to the daughter card. Therefore, a large array connector can house thousands of leads that are soldered to a printed circuit board (“PCB”). A large array connector can be used to couple a functional side of the wafers into a mid-plane (e.g., motherboard) and leads of the wafers to a PCB such as a daughter card. This allows the daughter card and mid-plane to communicate with each other.
However, many SMT (Surface Mount Technology) large array connectors generally do not provide enough support to the wafers during plug-in of the wafers to the mid-plane. This lack of support results in stress at the solder joints between the wafer leads and PCB surface mount pads. In many instances the stress causes the solder joints to fail. Another problem with conventional large array connectors is that they generally do not provide enough support to the wafers for proper alignment with the surface mount pads on the PCB and with the mid-plane connector header. This stress causes the wafer leads to be improperly soldered onto the PCB and misaligned with the mid-plane connector header. Such mis-registration can cause the solder joints to have a higher stress because of the reduced solder joint cross area, creating an out of specification condition or fail when the wafers are plugged into the mid-plane.